Tina Knowles Shares Her Personal Battle with Breast Cancer and Inspires Women Everywhere

Tina Knowles has an urgent message for women across the globe, drawing from her own recent experience with breast cancer. “Don’t neglect your mammograms,” advises the influential mother and author of the moving memoir Matriarch. She divulges this significant, life-altering health journey for the first time in PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful issue, emphasizing its importance.

The mother to global icons Beyoncé and Solange, Knowles, 71, was caught off guard last July when doctors detected stage 1 breast cancer in her left breast. This news arrived shortly after she and Beyoncé launched their CÉCRED hair care line, and she was amidst finalizing Matriarch.

“I wrestled with whether or not to include this journey in the book since I’m a private person,” she explains, “but I chose to disclose it because I believe there are valuable lessons for other women.” She highlights that women often get busy and consumed with their routines but underscores the necessity of regular tests. “If I had delayed my test, I dread to think of the consequences,” she stresses.

In fact, Knowles herself missed a scheduled mammogram. “I realized I hadn’t done my test two years prior, as I thought I had,” she recounts. “Covid hit, and they canceled my appointment, promising to reschedule. I mistakenly believed it was completed. This is why you cannot take it lightly,” she warns.

In Matriarch, she reflects on how her daughters handled the revelations. Beyoncé, she writes, remained positive and clearly began strategizing on managing the situation effectively. Meanwhile, Solange reassured her with, “Mom, we are going to take care of this.” With support from bonus daughters Kelly Rowland and Angie Beyince, Knowles recounts, “My girls became my team.”

Despite not having genetic markers for breast cancer and no family history of the illness, Knowles underwent tumor removal surgery late last year, along with a breast reduction. “I’m great,” she proclaims. “Cancer-free and immensely grateful that I discovered it early.”

Knowles not only emphasizes timely screenings for women but also aims to showcase that “you can go through that journey and still be incredible.”

Nowadays, “I’m healthier, eating more nutritiously, and I’ve shed some pounds,” she beams. Above all, as a proud grandmother of four, she perceives herself as a beacon of possibility. “I want to instill hope,” Knowles explains. “What I fear now is not making the most of every day I have left.”